The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has directed the removal of the contractors handling the Benin-Asaba Road, accusing the company of failing to add value to the major highway and lacking the capacity to restore it.
Umahi gave the directive on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House in Benin, Edo State, where the worsening condition of the road and the hardship faced by motorists were discussed.
The minister asked the contractors to write formally to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Works to enable the government to begin the process of terminating the concession.
He also directed the company to immediately clear all blockages on the road and restore the free movement of vehicles along the affected sections.
Umahi said the Federal Ministry of Works would ask the project’s independent engineer to measure all the work already carried out, stressing that work he described as “negative work” would not be recognised in assessing the value of the project.
He particularly faulted the removal of existing asphalt in violation of the contract and project specifications, saying the cost of repairing the damage caused by such work must also be determined.
According to the minister, the Federal Government was not convinced that the contractors currently had the technical capacity to reinstate the road. He warned that allowing the situation to continue could worsen the hardship faced by road users and create the potential for public disorder in the area.
Umahi directed that the badly affected portions should be reconstructed under the supervision of the independent engineer. He also ordered the concessionaire to produce a technical design for proper stormwater canalisation, restore removed asphalt and redirect water that had been channelled onto the carriageway.
Responding on behalf of the Benin-Asaba Expressway Concession Company (BAECC), its Head of Legal and Compliance, Peterson Fabian, appealed to the government and other stakeholders to give the company more time, saying discussions on possible solutions were still ongoing.
The Senator representing the Works Committee, Allwell Onyesoh, described the condition of the road as terrible and questioned whether the concessionaire had the capacity to handle such a major project.
Also speaking, Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo expressed disappointment over the state of the highway, saying the condition of the road after 16 months was unacceptable and had caused serious suffering for motorists and residents.
Okpebholo urged the Federal Government to take decisive action to resolve the crisis, stressing that the Benin-Asaba corridor is a major road that serves a large number of Nigerians.